New Books from the Mises Institute

Individualism and Economic Order - Digital Book

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:01:06 -0500

This professionally prepared ebook is an electronic edition of the book that is designed for reading on digital readers like iPad, Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, and other products including iPhone and Android smart phones. The text reflows depending on your font preferences and it contains links from navigation.

If you are looking to acquaint yourself with F.A. Hayek's perspective on economic theory--beyond his business cycle and monetary studies of the interwar years--this is the best source. The collection appeared in 1947, before he moved on toward broader culturaland social investigations. It contains his most profound work on the liberal economic order, and his most penetrating reflections on economic phenomena:

Individualism: True and False
Economics and Knowledge
The Facts of the Social Sciences
The Use of Knowledge in Society
The Meaning of Competition
Free Enterprise and Competitive Order
Socialist Calculation I: The Nature and History the Problem
Socialist Calculation II: The State of the Debate
Socialist Calculation III: The Competitive Solution
A Commodity Reserve Currency
The Ricardo Effect
The Economic Conditions of Interstate Federalism

This is a real treasure, and the best evidence for why Hayek must be considered one of the great economists in history.

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Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow - Digital Book

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:06:54 -0500

Purchase directly from Amazon for your Kindle.

This might be Mises's best-selling book. It is a very clear explanation of the basics of economic policy: private property, free trade, exchange, prices, interest, money and inflation, socialism, fascism, investment, and much more. As Mises discusses each topic, he addresses the many merits of market institutions and the dangers of intervention.

These chapters were originally delivered as lectures in Argentina in 1958, at the University of Buenos Aires, and later written up in prose. Mises had urged Argentina to turn from dictatorship and socialism toward full liberty, so there is a special urgency behind the cool logic employed here. The book's continued popularity is due to its clarity of exposition on the ways in which economic policy affects everyone.

It is a very good text for undergraduates studying economic policy, and for anyone who wants to gain a fundamental understanding of the interaction between market forces and government intervention.

Table of Contents:

Introduction by Bettina Bien Greaves
Foreword by Margit von Mises
First Lecture: Capitalism
Second Lecture: Socialism
Third Lecture: Interventionism
Fourth Lecture: Inflation
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Economics of Liberty - Digital Book

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:35:27 -0500

This collection of short, entertaining, and educational articles exposes how government interference with the economy violates individual liberty, leads to inefficiencies, and rewards special interests. This collection appeared in 1991 and it holds up very well. Some people swear that this is one of the best collections ever printed by the Mises Institute.

An excellent introduction to the Mises Institute way of understanding the world. It's not wonder that Roy Childs wrote of this book: "The great virtue of the volume is the excellent interaction between first principles and current events.... rational, zippy, to the point, informative with facts and figures, and based soundly on the first principles of liberty and the free market.... you can take your time reading them, using them as a 'bed book' that you can dip into at will, and learn a lot of information in a short time. And the book sizzles."

Contributors include Murray Rothbard, Walter Block, David Gordon, Robert Higgs, and Tom Bethell.

The contents of this volume include:

Introduction (Llewellyn H. Rockwell)
I. Economic Truth vs. Polit...

Read Hayek Poster

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:10:18 -0500

No other ideological movement is as well-read as the Austrian movement. While others focus on slogans and pandering, we are deeply rooted in a rich tradition of literature. The four "giants" of our movement, Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, and Hazlitt, were particularly prolific. Once you start reading them, you find yourself drawn from one work to the next. And before you know it, your entire worldview is changed.

These posters, featuring the "giants" and their greatest works, can be a great conversation-starter for your dorm, apartment, office or study. Who knows? It may start someone you know on their own life-changing path of enlightenment.

size: 18" x 24"

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Read Hazlitt Poster

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:08:58 -0500

size: 18" x 24"

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Read Mises Poster

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:07:27 -0500

size: 18" x 24"

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Read Rothbard Poster

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:03:22 -0500

size: 18" x 24"

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Foundations of Economics: A Christian View

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:34:32 -0500

Foundations of Economics: A Christian View is an introduction to economics from an explicitly Christian perspective. It maintains that there is no conflict between Christian doctrine and economic science, properly understood. Therefore, Foundations of Economics has three goals: to demonstrate that the foundations of economic laws are derived from a Christian understanding of nature and humanity; to explain basic economic principles of the market economy and apply them to various economic problems, such as poverty and economic development; and to show the relationship between Christian ethics and economic policy.

Foundations of Economics: A Christian View accomplishes these goals by rooting the fundamental principles of human action in the Christian doctrines of creation and humanity, and integrating them with the Christian ethic of private property. This volume explains the relevance of economics for fulfilling the cultural mandate set forth in the first two chapters of Genesis, by demonstrating how economics can help us in our task to be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the earth, without spoiling creation, starving to death, or descending into a barbaric struggle for survival.

Listen to the podcast with Lew Rockwell

Review

"Shawn Ritenour's Foundations of Economics is everything a textbook ...

Global Curse of the Federal Reserve

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:18:17 -0500

The Global Curse of the Federal Reserve reveals and explores the missing link between the Austrian School of Economics and behavioral finance theory. Monetary instability is the source of the waves of irrational exuberance (sometimes described as "asset price inflation"), which spread so much economic destruction and geopolitical turmoil when they break. The largest and most destructive waves in the past 100 years have all been powered by monetary turmoil created by the Federal Reserve. Dr. Brown argues that flawed monetary practice and principles—most recently in the form of Bernankeism—have been responsible for the Fed-made havoc. The author comes to two optimistic conclusions. First, political forces in the US will one day gain sufficient strength to repeal Bernankeism. But the new revolutionaries must learn from the mistakes of the first monetarist revolution. Brown argues for the end of the Fed as a policy-making institution. Second, it is possible for investors to build substantial protection for their wealth and even profit from monetary chaos unleashed by the Federal Reserve—but this depends on throwing overboard much of the established wisdom about optimal portfolio management.

BRENDAN BROWN is an international economist practicing in London, UK. He has authored many books on international financial topics, including monetary problems in the US, Europe, and Japan, and asset market pricing (including exchange rates) in a global context. The books...

Libertarian Anarchy: Against the State

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:37:40 -0500

Political philosophy is dominated by a myth, the myth of the necessity of the state. The state is considered necessary for the provision of many things, but primarily for peace and security. In this provocative book, Gerard Casey argues that social order can be spontaneously generated, that such spontaneous order is the norm in human society and that deviations from the ordered norms can be dealt with without recourse to the coercive power of the state.

Casey presents a novel perspective on political philosophy, arguing against the conventional political philosophy pieties and defending a specific political position, which he identifies as 'libertarian anarchy'. The book includes a history of the concept of anarchy, an examination of the possibility of anarchic societies and an articulation of the nature of law and order within such societies. Casey presents his specific form of anarchy, undergirded by a theory of human action that prioritises liberty, as a philosophically and politically viable alternative to the standard positions in political theory.

Gerard Casey is Associate Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin, Ireland, Adjunct Professor at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, UK, and Adjunct Scholar at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Alabama, USA.

“‘In Libertarian Anarchy Gerard Casey presents a modern, clear and compelling case for anarcho-capitalism. Any lover of human freedom should read this book that very probably...

Great Deformation

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:42:21 -0500

David Stockman was the architect of the Reagan Revolution meant to restore sound money principles to the U.S. government. It failed, derailed by politics, special interests, welfare, and warfare. In The Great Deformation, Stockman describes how the working of free markets and democracy has long been under threat in America and provides a nonpartisan, surprising catalog of the corrupters and defenders. His analysis overturns the assumptions of Keynesians and monetarists alike, showing how both “liberal” and “neo-conservative” interference in markets has proved damaging and often dangerous. Over time, crony capitalism has made fools of us all, transforming Republican treasury secretaries into big government interventionists, and populist Democrat presidents into industry wrecking internationalists. Today’s national debt stands at nearly $16 trillion. Divided equally among taxpayers, each of us is $52,000 in debt. This book explains how we got here—and why this warped crony capitalism has betrayed so many of our hopes and dreams.

"...its subject matter is so interesting, and its prose style so lively and engaging, that you will hardly notice the pages going by." "...Thanks to The Great Deformation, not a shred of the regime’s propaganda is left standing. This is truly the book we have been waiting for, and we owe David Stockman a great debt." — Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., Founder of the Mises Institute

"If David Stockman had just smashe...

Fabian Freeway: High Road to Socialism in the U.S.A. -Digital Book

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:33:15 -0500

Digital Book

Both prophetic and illuminating, Fabian Freeway documents the rise and progress of socialism in Britain and the United States and tells the story of the many early triumphs of the philosophy of socialist incrementalism known as Fabian Socialism.

Part political history, part intellectual history, Rose Martin’s Fabian Freeway traces the influence of the British Fabian Society in promoting socialism in Britain, beginning in the 1880s. The group favored gradual progress toward socialism rather than violent revolution; and it proved to be a major force in promoting British collectivism. Its influence extended to America as well, where like-minded organizations and persons enhanced its effects. Martin emphasizes Fabian influences on Wilson and FDR, and continues the discussion through the 1960’s, when the book originally appeared.
When the British Fabian Society was first founded, its members, echoing Marx’s own views, believed that socialism could only be introduced to Britain and the United States through a strategy of very gradual change disguised as reform.
Some Fabians suspected that the United States might never adopt the tenets of true socialism.
Less than 150 years, later, however, the Fabian strategy has been enormously successful. Both Britain and the United States are heavily regulated and heavily taxed societies with highly socialized economies where government agents...

Give Me Liberty - Digital Book

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:56:07 -0600

Digital Book

Rose Wilder Lane in her youth supported the Russian Revolution, but a trip to Russia quickly dispelled her illusions. She realized that the mass politics of socialism necessarily suppressed individual freedom. America was founded on a different principle: individuals should take responsibility for their own lives. On this principle, America became the wealthiest of all nations and the hope of the world. The New Deal of 1933 struck against American individualism, substituting for it the tired collectivist programs of Europe. In Give Me Liberty, originally published in 1936, Lane called for a return to American individualism and a repudiation of the New Deal.
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The Left, The Right, and The State - Paperback

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:55:03 -0600

Lew Rockwell's new manifesto is a clarion call—creative and thought-provoking on every page—for a principled liberty in our time. There are very few books in which you can open up any page and immediately find a quotable and inspiring passage that will make you think hard, laugh out loud, or see things a completely new way. This is certainly one of them.

He covers every topic related to economics and politics, from the business cycle, to trade, to the drug war, to environmentalism. His central thesis is that the threat to liberty comes from both the Left and the Right, and that neither really offers a consistent way out. The real problem is much deeper than either the Right or the Left recognizes. It is the institution of the state itself, which everyone seems to want to use to his own philosophical advantage.

The problem, he writes, is not that we have chosen the wrong flavor of public policy but that we have public policy at all. All forms of policy—decisions made by state institutions that affect the uses of private property according to political priorities—amount to invasions of liberty. Relentlessly moving from left-wing to right-wing and back to left-wing policy is not progress; it means continued movement down the road to serfdom.

Beautifully edited and pristinely argued, this is a work in applied Austro-libertarian theory, tracking issues and headlines as they occur and bringing the light of logic and evidence to bear on the questi...

America's Great Depression (Pocket Edition)

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:27:58 -0600

Pocketbook, 4.5 x 7

Applied Austrian economics doesn't get better than this. Murray N. Rothbard's America's Great Depression is a staple of modern economic literature and crucial for understanding a pivotal event in American and world history.
The Mises Institute edition features, along with a new introduction by historian Paul Johnson, top-quality paper and bindings, in line with the standard set by The Scholars Edition of Human Action.
Since it first appeared in 1963, it has been the definitive treatment of the causes of the depression. The book remains canonical today because the debate is still very alive.
Rothbard opens with a theoretical treatment of business cycle theory, showing how an expansive monetary policy generates imbalances between investment and consumption. He proceeds to examine the Fed's policies of the 1920s, demonstrating that it was quite inflationary even if the effects did not show up in the price of goods and services. He showed that the stock market correction was merely one symptom of the investment boom that led inevitably to a bust.
The Great Depression was not a crisis for capitalism but merely an example of the downturn part of the business cycle, which in turn was generated by government intervention in the economy. Had the book appeared in the 1940s, it might have spared the world much grief. Even so, its appearance in 1963 meant that free-market advocates had their first full-scale...